fig1

Figure 1. Population aging trends and comparative projections between China and other countries. (A) Rapid population aging in China compared with other countries. The figure highlights that China has experienced a particularly rapid increase in its elderly population share over a relatively short period. Compared with developed economies that underwent aging over several decades, China is transitioning swiftly from an aging society to an aged—and potentially super-aged—society, reflecting the compressed pace and unprecedented scale of population aging. (B) Projections of the elderly population in China and high-income countries. High-income countries are defined according to the United Nations and World Bank income classification standards, which generally include economies such as the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, and other advanced economies. Even when aggregated, the elderly populations of these high-income countries remain substantially smaller than China’s projected elderly population at its peak. All data are from the United Nations World Population Prospects 2024^[1].